i’m still trying to gauge interest in her and so i’d like to ask that if you read this blog and are interested in seeing kirin go up for preorder, leave a comment. oh, and maybe share the link too ^^

my thoughts are as follows:

1) i’m thinking she’s going to be cast in a semi-translucent white resin by donn at bishounen house. this guy is a master mold maker and a doll-making god. seriously.

2) i’m thinking of pricing her about 500$ for a blank doll (not including shipping), or 600$ for a doll with face up, full body blushing, eyes, and a faux fur wig (not including shipping).

3) IF i do take these preorders – i’m limiting the preorder period to 10 dolls OR two weeks (which ever comes first) and that i would probably ask for a 150$ down payment – this covers the cost of getting her molded and cast in resin.

now, i’m still working out details and all – this is NOT the official preorder. i just want to find out if people are interested in the possibility of one ^^;;;

i’ll update in the next few days with any further information as i work things out.

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EDIT – it was pointed out by my kind mother that i don’t have pics of kirin in this post. i guess i figured anyone who reads this would know who kirin is, but here are some reposted pics from this old post in may:

okay, yesterday and today i got to spend a lot of time working on my dolls.

and in that time, i finished up new feet for the venetian sun which allow her to pose like a dream!

i got 7 of the 8 legs done for amaterasu – and she can stand as well!

and, i started to add decorations to the body for the xenoceratops.

all in all, it was a pretty good couple of days, but i feel like i still could have made more progress.

and so, of course to celebrate, i took lots of blurry pics!

so, first up the venetian sun – i’ll be taking some better “studio” shots of her tomorrow once i get her all restrung after her painting.

and then amaterasu! cute little ami! yeah, i didn’t really take that many pics of her because i actually broke one of her leg pieces in the middle of taking pictures…

and then my big girl xenoceratops. the first pic i took yesterday, the rest i took today.

she’s wearing a reject eye that i made – 8mm and it’s almost a perfect fit, but i think she really needs a 9mm that i’ll have to create from a 10mm pair. and then for color i’m thinking of going with something like what a box turtle has – it would really stand out since her eye is so small.

the hole in her stomach is for another emblem that i imbedded after taking pics.

and yes, i really do keep taking pics from one side – but only because her other side is slow going, but it still manages to capture a lot of emotion as well.

i’ve been working on finishing up various projects in preparation for NIADA, as well as battling quite a few personal demons…

and in trying to figure out costs for having kirin cost and selling her and the logistics in all of that i inquired on den of angels to see if she would be allowed… sadly they told me they won’t even look her over for meeting criteria without being in resin.

i fully respect their decision, and i can completely understand why – they have to manage one of, if not the largest doll forums on the internet. i don’t envy them in this task and am often amazed at how they keep things together with such a huge membership! (if any of those mods read this – you guys must be saints to have the patience for such a herculean task)

and thus it makes it very difficult for me – i’m in a catch 22 – i need to know the level of interest in kirin to know how many to have cast and figure out prices, but in order to get that interest i need to have her in resin…

it also makes it hard to decide whether or not to have future dolls or parts cast in resin as well – i have to be very careful with my extremely limited finances since i’ve managed to fail at getting even a part time job. so what, do i take the risk and have a bunch of her cast in hopes she’d be allowed? or do i just get a small number done to give to myself and a few close supporters?

it makes me also wonder about going with just ceramic dolls – would flumo be considered ceramic? porcelain? bisque? clay? i’m still sort of confused on what flumo is classified under… but i’ve had incredible success at molding and casting my own flumo dolls (so long as i don’t plan on doing an all over paint job ^^;;; )

but it still leaves me scrambling to find the right place to show off my art – since no one really looks at this blog, and while i have opened an etsy shop, it only has a couple of prints of some art and i’m pretty sure no one even looks at that either (though i will continue to make drawings to put up there)

yep, i’ve been working on painting the venetian sun. it’s… slow going. as usual. but i think i’m making good progress and hope to soon get enough courage up to cut out her outfit and start sewing that as well. and then she’ll be done! OMG!

anyway, here are some pics –

and some of the pieces mostly airbrushed -

now airbrushing her was an experience i never EVER want to repeat. it was horrible and if it could go wrong, it pretty much did go wrong. i wanted to cry half way through, but instead i kept at it. which was good, because i ended up with a very lovely color that was mostly even on her -

at this point i also took the time to answer a question that had been on my mind – just how much did my flumo girl shrink?

it was startling to tell the truth… but i also noticed something else. do you see it too? unfortunately airbrush medium can make paint shiny – at least in my experience.

but that’s okay, because a couple coats of volks’ zoukei-maru spray and ta-da! a nice matte finish

i cut out the mock up for the venetian sun’s dress… well, actually it’s a two layer skirt, bloomers, and corset.

and while i found that i need to add some pintucks to the skirts, i… don’t like the corset top. i even tried adjusting the height but, i really like how she looks with just the skirt!

so now i’m going to ditch the corset and maybe make some detached half sleeves (from the elbow to the wrist) with lots of lace or something, and add a big bustle to the back of the skirts.

okay – here it is pinned where i need to do the tucks – even with all the bulk of the pins, the skirts lay nice against her body! see, this is why i gave her an elongated wasp waist – i was anticipating this kind of bulk. and yes, she IS wearing bloomers in all of these pictures.

and with the corset – it appears baggy because i didn’t fully tack the middle section to the corset (it was going to have a center panel of a different fabric)

however, it just looked heavy and ugly…

and with the slightly adjusted corset – less ugly, but still not right.

but with just the skirts – it looks perfect! well, minus the bustle of course.

sorry – the pics aren’t the best, but i was just too excited to see her all strung together!

of course, she still has some issues – one arm still needs the elbow joint cleaned up, and it looks like her ankle ball got a lot smaller than anticipated when sanded, so i have to fix the ankle joints (well, that and one leg is longer than the other because it’s not been cleaned up so she didn’t really stand very well)

however, look! she’s all together with a fake mask stick thingy… i haven’t yet figured out what i’m going to do for the mask and i should probably figure that out ASAP.

please forgive the elastic sticking out of her butt… the piece i cut for her test stringing was too long for her legs and i didn’t feel like undoing her.

and look! you can’t really see the elastic at all in her hole! i was worried that the knot would be sticking out badly – but it’s nicely hidden.

i’m doing my best to get this girl done ASAP since i need to submit pictures of her at the end of the month.

so i’ve gotten all her molds done, i’m casting the last of her pieces – but despite the record heat, they’re not drying out enough for me to remove from the molds! i poured them over 24 hours ago and they’re still too soft… if i can’t take them out safely by tonight i’ll junk these casts and let the molds dry for another 24 hours empty and try again.

in the meantime, i’ve gotten all of the remaining parts of amaterasu’s legs cast so hopefully soon i can do a test stringing of her legs without all the cursing and swearing. i’ve also started making patterns for the sun’s dress. now i have to dig out our muslin so i can do a test one to make sure they’ll work….

anyway – on to the pictures!

the last of her pieces in the mold – unlike the other pieces, i didn’t take many in process pics.

and some of her body and test stringing – it was so hard to do one handed that few pics actually came out. plus i have such a messy background…. but so i’ll get it cleaned up now that our houseguest is gone (it’s a little hard to do stuff when you’re used to keeping things out all over the place… )

sadly found out her knee doesn’t quite fit together because of the way i designed the molds. but that’s okay, i’ve since been able to fix it by thickening the inside of the thigh socket with flumo.

sadly – i didn’t make the indents on the leg fit the shoe – but it’s an easy enough fix.

and i’ve learned how to use the flumo to “sculpt” and have added a lot of detailing to her mask! it’s coming along so quickly now!

and now the pattern drafting – using the classic tape and pen method!

okay, honestly the corset was the only part i really had to draft… the rest are just rectangles or rounded rectangles… but now you can see why i did her waist so tiny – it’s going to really bulk out with the fabric there, even with taking a lot out through darts. but the small wasp-waist should allow her to still appear petite.

and my patterns. i know, so impressive – but i can promise you this, these will be changed as i work in muslin to refine the fit. i’m not so much a pattern person as a draping person. but i still like to get rough shapes at first so i’m not wasting a lot of fabric.

i've been drawing for as long as i could hold a pencil and art became my first language. though i've only been sculpting since 2007, i fell in love with the idea of being able to bring my drawings to life.
i am heavily inspired by medieval macabre artwork, japanese yokai, and oddly enough, sherlock holmes.
currently i'm living just south of beautiful portland oregon ^^